Angela D’Alessandro, 76

Family PhotoAngela D'Alessandro, 2005 STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Longtime Westerleigh resident Angela D’Alessandro, 76, who owned the former Dew-Dale Music Store in Port Richmond with her husband, died yesterday in Richmond University Medical Center, West Brighton.

Born Angela Fungone in Rosebank, she moved with her family to the Bronx and then Manhattan. They returned to Staten Island in 1939 and lived in various communities, including Dongan Hills, Midland Beach and Rosebank. She settled in Westerleigh in 1962.

A 1951 graduate of New Dorp High School, Mrs. D’Alessandro attended the Stenotype Institute and Pohs Institute of Insurance Brokers in Manhattan in the early 1950s.

Shortly after she and Rudolph (Rudy) D’Alessandro married in 1956, she resigned from her position with Manhattan importer Otto Gerdau to help her husband with his Port Richmond music store, Dew-Dale. She also assisted him with his real estate company RDJ Management Corp. in St. George.

Upon her husband’s death in 1982, she assumed control of the company before liquidating all of its assets 10 years later.

Mrs. D’Alessandro loved talking politics. A registered member of the Conservative Party, she had worked as a committeewoman for the party and served two terms as president of the Richmond County Conservative Club in the 1980s.

She inherited her father’s green thumb and absorbed the Italian-American culinary talents of her grandparents, aunts and uncles to become an accomplished cook whose dishes were beloved by family and friends.

Her eggplant parmesan was described as “world-class” and was the annual highlight of Fourth of July parties.

Mrs. D’Alessandro imparted her love of reading to her children. An avid reader of the Advance, she also enjoyed reading magazines, cookbooks, history and biographies.

Mostly, she treasured updates from her children and visiting her grandchildren in Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Surviving are her sons, Mark and Rudy III; her daughter, Suzanne D’Alessandro; her sister, Rose Combs, and three grandsons.

The funeral service will be Monday at 10:30 a.m. in Harmon Home for Funerals, West Brighton. Burial will follow in Moravian Cemetery, New Dorp.